Wednesday, January 16, 2008

FED Land Area & Population

Question

A researcher at McMaster is looking for population density data of Canadian Federal Electoral Districts from 1972 to present. So the researcher needs land areas and populations for each FED. Does anyone know where this data might be available?

Answer

The Geography Division recommends that your client use the 1991 - 2006 GeoSuite products to get the population data for FEDs. Beyond 1991, the Geography Division suggests that you use the Geographic Attribute File (GAF) files, which go back to 1971, to get the population data. The GAF, their user guides and record layouts are available in the Geography folder on the DLI FTP site. (Please note that there is no user guide for the 1996 GAF, only a record layout.)

Geosuite 2006 and 2001 will also provide you with land area for FEDs. GeoSuite1996 and GeoSuite1991 do not have land area for FEDs however, nor do the GAF files. You may need to refer to print publications or other sources to find FED land areas for 1996 and previous years.

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